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No Chance But God’s Concern

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
in the Peace Room of the United Nations Church Centre

No chance but God's Concern. No golden chance but God's constant Concern.

Before I act, I need to live. Before I live, I need to breathe. Before I breathe, I need to know the purpose of my life, the aim of my earthly existence. If the ultimate aim of my earthly existence is to reach the farthest, feel the deepest and climb the highest, then I have to breathe God's Light in and out from God Himself.

From whom can I have God's Light? God's Light I can have directly from God when the fleeting moment of my unconditionally surrendered life I offer to God.

When can I have God's Light? I can have God's Light when I am consciously aware of the undeniable fact that God loves me infinitely more than I love Him; and I have to feel that God loves me infinitely more than I love myself.

How can I have God's Light? I can have God's Light when I grow into the purest humility of the poor and the mightiest magnanimity of the rich. My humility is my divine brotherhood. My magnanimity is my divine fatherhood.

I have to feel that it is God, God alone, who constantly cares for me. I am not afraid of telling anything to the world, because I feel that God is speaking through me. I am not afraid of doing anything in the world, because I feel that God is acting through me. I am not afraid of transforming the world-nature, because I know that God is doing it for me. Finally, I am not afraid of affirming that God and I are eternally and perpetually one, because God has confided in me that there can be no other Truth than this.

No chance. There is no such thing as chance. There is only God's constant, selfless, unreserved Concern. This Concern is His glowing, flowing and descending Grace.

God is Concern. This Concern enters into the darkening ignorance and darkened humanity to transform the face of the world only when the earth-consciousness is ready to receive God's spontaneous, constant and unreserved Concern soulfully and unreservedly.

No chance but God's Concern. No golden chance but God's constant Concern.

Published in The Garland of Nation-Souls

Poetry the Winner

a lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in the University of British Columbia; Vancouver, BC, Canada

A poet sees what we cannot see — the highest Beauty’s golden crown, the deepest Beauty’s golden throne. A poet feels what we cannot feel — oneness with the sorrows of Eternity, oneness with the joys of Infinity.

They say a poet is born and not made — not true, not true, not true. I am an eye-witness. Many supreme poets at the dawn of their poetry-adventure were nothing but pathetic. Again, there are many late-bloomer poets. We do not know how and when God’s Compassion-Eye descends on them.

True, poetry and poverty are good friends, but poverty has its own joy. To feel that joy, we needs must have a different heart-breath. That heart-breath only a poet can claim. At times, the outer poverty can be an illumining expression of an inner purity.

Poetry and invisibility are dear friends. Poetry and invisibility are great admirers. Poetry and invisibility are perfect oneness-heart-flyers, divers and runners.

When a poet sits in deep contemplation, who can say to which realm his thoughts are winging? Lord Byron jests, “Poetry should only occupy the idle.” But the idle moments of his own life were not spent uselessly. Even in idleness, the inspiration-promise of dynamism can burst forth. In “Don Juan”, for example, Byron writes:

The mountains look on Marathon —  
And Marathon looks on the sea;  
And musing there an hour alone,  
I dream’d that Greece might still be free.  

When the present mind enters into the bosom of the past, we tend to glorify the past, but when the present is with us, we treat the present either in a humorous vein or in a contemptuous vein:

"A poet in history is divine, but a poet in the next room is a joke. – Max Eastman"

Indeed, inside each human being there is a poet. I fully concur with Joubert:

"You will find poetry nowhere, unless you bring some with you."

We must have a subtle poetic touch of our own to appreciate and admire poetry.

Poetry and truth are inextricably linked. The Sanskrit word for poet is kavi. Kavi means ‘he who envisions’. What does he envision? He envisions the truth in its seed-form. Once more I wish to invoke Joubert. His sublime realisation is: “You arrive at the truth through poetry; I arrive at poetry through truth.”

I have been a poet all my life and I have been a dreamer of truth as well. Inside my heart I feel that these two players — the poet and the dreamer — are at once interchangeable and inseparable. That is why I wrote many years ago, at the dawn of my poetry-journey:

Arise, awake, O friend of my dream.  
Arise, awake, O breath of my life.  
Arise, awake, O light of my eyes.  
O seer-poet in me,  
Do manifest yourself in me  
And through me.  

What is my poetry and what do I actually expect from my poetry?

O my poetry,  
You are the lotus of my heart.  
You bring into my heart  
Nectar-Light from Heaven.  
When my life flows

With the river of sorrow  
With its countless waves,  
May your magic touch  
Hide me in the waters of liberation-sea.  

At this point, I wish to cite the words of a certain poet. History has not preserved his name, but this veil of anonymity only serves to heighten the essential invisibility of a true poet. It is not we, but God, who writes poetry in and through us.

Each time you pick a daffodil  
Or gather violets on some hill  
Or touch a leaf or see a tree,  
It’s all God whispering,  
‘This is Me.’  

Something of tremendous importance in my life I wish to share with you. I cannot help reproducing a few momentous words from India’s greatest poet Rabindranath Tagore’s poem Fruit Gathering:

To the birds You gave songs, the birds gave You songs in return.  
You gave me only voice, yet asked for more, and I sing.  

Being both a prose-mind-writer and a poetry-heart-writer, I have made a supreme discovery in my own life: every time there is a competitive race between my prose-mind and my poetry-heart to arrive at God’s Golden Palace, my poetry-heart invariably wins. How and why? Because, unlike my prose-mind, my poetry-heart sees invisibility’s reality-existence-life.

[Sri Chinmoy was invited as a Visiting Poet to the University of British Columbia by Dr. Mandakranta Bose, Chair and Co-ordinator, Cross-Cultural Literary Studies in Asia Group at the Institute of Asian Research. On behalf of the University, she offered Sri Chinmoy the ‘Dreamer of Peace’ award.]

Published in The Oneness of the Eastern Heart and the Western Mind, part 1

My Bird of Consciousness

by Sri Chinmoy
age of 17 years
at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India

Midnight. The sky was overcast with clouds. It was raining in torrents. I do not know why and what for a sweet surge of bliss entered my heart and awakened me from my sleep. I got up. After a while I began to look hither and thither. I found nobody and was unable to know from whom the sweet bliss had come. So with a heavy heart I was going to have my sleep again. All of a sudden someone in me cried aloud, saying, "Look to the sky, my dear, just have a look to the sky." I looked to the sky. It was raining no more. No cloud was seen in the sky. The eternally pure face of the moon was shining brightly.

Soon I felt my bird of consciousness was dancing merrily in the bosom of the Moon. Thither I found a sweet and flower-like hand calling me with great love. Soon dancing with infinite joy my heart began to fly up to the blue sky from where my friend was beckoning me.

On the way only once I looked down on the earth. There I saw some earthly beings calling me with great affection and requesting me not to go to my Goal. While on the other hand some were saying, "Our loving friend, proceed on, onward. Hearken, our beloved is calling you." I responded to the ardent wish of the latter.

I reached my Goal. The flower-like hand commanded me to go into the depth of my heart and see his whole creation. With what a joy I saw his entire creation in me. Soon the Hand touched my head lightly and transformed me into light, love and beauty.

Published in AUM – Vol. 8, No. 5, December 1972

The Meaning of Discipleship Today

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California

Listen to the live recording.

Dear friends, dear brothers and sisters, dear distinguished professors and deans, here we are all seekers. We are sailing in the same boat, the boat that is carrying us to the Golden Shore of the Beyond. Nothing gives me a greater sense of satisfaction than to be of dedicated service to seekers, for I am also a seeker, an eternal seeker, a seeker of the infinite Truth and Light. As you know, I was asked by my esteemed friend, Dean Foster, to speak on the meaning of discipleship today. This is a most significant subject, and therefore I offer him my gratitude-heart.

What is a disciple? A disciple is a seeker; he is a truth-seeker. What is a disciple? A disciple is a lover; he is a Heaven-lover. What is a disciple? A disciple is a server; he is an earth-server. What is a disciple? A disciple is a fulfiller; he is a God-fulfiller.

If we want to know the meaning of discipleship today, we have to focus our concentrated attention on the role of the disciple. The role of the disciple is quite simple, of course, if he follows the path of the heart and not the path of the mind. The role of the disciple is to give what he has and what he is. What he has is an inner cry, which is birthless and deathless. The disciple offers this birthless and deathless inner cry to his Pilot Supreme and receives His infinite Light, eternal Peace, and immortal Bliss. What he is, is a devoted and soulful instrument. He wants to help mankind see the beauty of the Infinite in the very heart of the finite. He wants to unite earth's helpless cry and Heaven's endless Smile. He takes it as his bounden duty to serve both Mother Earth and Father Heaven. To manifest the eternal Truth is his constant cry and constant hunger. Undoubtedly, he is a chosen instrument of the Absolute Pilot Supreme.

Yesterday's disciple, today's disciple, and tomorrow's disciple. Yesterday's disciple was simple and humble. Simplicity was his outer life, humility was his inner life. Simplicity and humility inundated his entire being. Today's disciple is complicated and argumentative. Complication and argumentation reign supreme in his life, day in and day out. Tomorrow's disciple will be the fastest spiritual runner. His code of life will be to run and become, to become and run. He will run in order to succeed; he will become in order to proceed. At times he will run to reach the Goal; at times the Goal will come to him. When he reaches the Goal, he will be blessed with the transcendental Pride of the Absolute Supreme. When the Goal reaches him, he will immediately sit at the Feet of the Absolute Supreme with his heart's soulful gratitude-sea.

In the days of yore, the disciple was advised and encouraged by the Master to renounce the world. Renunciation was taught right from the beginning when the disciple came to the Master. The Vedic seers of the hoary past, and also the Upanishadic seers, offered a supreme message to the world at large: "Enjoy through renunciation." Everybody wants to enjoy, for satisfaction is of paramount importance. But the ancient seers came to realise that satisfaction can be achieved only through renunciation; there is no other way. This world of ours gives us things that do not last; their life-breath is very short. Everything here is an illusion — nothing can last and nothing will last permanently. Sooner than the soonest, everything dies. What is the use of running after things that will not last for good? So they taught their disciples not to run after material objects, and their students learned the message of renunciation.

Then there came a time when the message needed transformation. The sages, the seers, the spiritual Masters came to realise that acceptance of life is of paramount importance. If we renounce the world, if we renounce the body, vital, mind and heart, then what are we going to do for our Beloved Supreme? We say we love God and want to please Him. If we want to please Him, if we want to fulfil Him, then how can we reject or renounce the world? This world of ours, as it is, must be accepted. First we must accept it; then we have to transform it. Needless to say, this world is far, far from perfect. But unless and until we accept the world, unless we touch the earth-arena — the sufferings, the pains, the imperfections of the world at large — how are we going to change the face and fate of the world? Therefore, we must needs accept the world.

Our mind is full of doubts, worries and anxieties; our mind has to be transformed. Our vital quite often is destructive; we have to transform our destructive vital into a new vital which is dynamic. With a dynamic vital we will be able to run the fastest, dive the deepest and fly the highest. Our body is lethargic; our body enjoys ignorance-sleep. It has been sleeping for millions of years; yet it still wants to enjoy this ignorance-sleep. The seeker in us must tell our body to wake up. The Upanishadic seers have taught us how to inspire the body with inner dynamism just by repeating these soulful and powerful words of incantation.

Uttisthata jagrata prapya varan nibodhata;
Ksurasya dhara nisita duratyaya;
Durgam pathas tat kavayo vadanti.

Arise, awake! Realise and achieve the Highest with the help of the illumining, guiding and fulfilling Masters. The path is as sharp as the edge of a razor, difficult to cross, hard to tread — so declare the wise sages.

Until the Goal is reached, do not stop! And this Goal is for whom? Not for the weakling! "The soul cannot be won by the weakling," Nayam atma bala-hinena labhyo. The inner Goal can be achieved only by powerful souls, not by weak ones. The Goal that satisfies our inner world and our outer world, the Goal that quenches our Eternity's thirst, will not be achieved by weaklings.

Yesterday's disciple could not satisfy us. Today's disciple cannot satisfy us. Tomorrow's disciple also perhaps will not satisfy us. Why? Yesterday's disciple said to the Master, "Master, give me capacity. If you bless me with capacity, I shall please you." The disciple did not want to go further; he did not tell the Master that he would be more than willing to please the Master in his own way. Today's disciple says to the Master, "Master, I am giving you a golden chance. Do please me in my own way today. If you please me today, I give you my word of honour that tomorrow I shall please you in your own way. But you have to please me first, and I have already given you a golden supreme chance." Tomorrow's disciple perhaps will say to the Master, "Master, let us please each other. You give me something significant and I shall give you something significant. You give me your soul's Himalayan realisation, and I shall give you my life's sleepless service." Here also the disciple has managed to forget the message of unconditional Reality. It is all conditional: the Master has to give something to the disciple; then only the disciple will give something else to the Master. Therefore, yesterday's disciple could not accomplish the supreme task, today's disciple cannot do it and tomorrow's also will fail. But in the distant future — it may take millions of years — there shall come a time when the seeker-disciple will be ready to please the Master in the Master's own way. The seeker-disciple will be able to identify himself with the supreme prayer-message of the Saviour-Supreme, the Christ: "Father, let Thy Will be done." Here the message of surrender comes to the fore.

Unfortunately, the present-day world is scared to death when it hears the word "surrender." But the surrender that we speak of in the spiritual life is not the surrender of the slave to the master. It is the recognition of the Infinite by the finite. A tiny drop recognises its inner identity with the vast ocean. It then enters into the ocean and becomes the vast ocean itself.

In the spiritual life, nobody is compelled to surrender. But everybody has an inner urge to grow into the Infinite. As the tiny drop grows into the Infinite, even so, our finite consciousness can eventually grow into Infinity. Surrender and freedom are always at daggers drawn, but if we dive deep within we see that there is no difference between these two so-called realities. They are just the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. Before we accepted the spiritual life, we enjoyed freedom in one way. We fulfilled, or wanted to fulfil, our earth-bound desires. We felt, perhaps, that we had the capacity and potentiality to be another Napoleon or Alexander the Great. Like Julius Caesar, we wanted to voice forth: "I came, I saw, I conquered." This is the positive way that we could have embraced: this reality. Otherwise, if we embraced it in the negative way, then we would have cherished and admired deep in the inmost recesses of our heart the destructive message of Hitler and Stalin. In any event, before we entered into the spiritual life we did enjoy freedom; whether it was real freedom or not is another matter. But we can say that we enjoyed something in a limited way, and the after-effect was total frustration. Therefore, we needed a kind of escape. Or we can say that illumination dawned on us. So we gave up the desire-bound life and entered into the spiritual life.

Previously we wanted to please and fulfil ourselves by fulfilling our desire-life, but now we want to please and fulfil ourselves by fulfilling our aspiration-life. It is not that we have given up our freedom. No! Freedom is always there. Only we have changed the course of the game, and now we are enjoying a different kind of freedom.

Unfortunately, when we enter into the spiritual life and follow a Master, we feel that we are surrendering to somebody else and giving up our freedom. But this is not at all true. Nobody is compelling us to follow a spiritual path; nobody is compelling us to listen to the Master. The seeker has come to the Master on the strength of his own inner urge. The seeker is staying with the Master in order to fulfil a divine longing that he feels. He feels that the Master knows a little more than he does, so he himself has decided to follow the Master. It is his own freedom that he is exercising. So the question of surrender does not arise at all. When we lead, we enjoy freedom. Again, when we consciously, deliberately, soulfully and unconditionally follow, at that time we enjoy another kind of freedom. In the case of the seeker, his inner awareness, inner development and inner sense of truth are compelling him to follow a higher life, a more illumining life, a more fulfilling life. It is his own free choice.

When the seeker follows a Master, he does not look upon the Master as a separate individual. He does not feel that he is a slave kissing the dust of the Master's feet. No! He knows perfectly well that the Master who is in the physical is only a representative of his real Guru, his real Master, who is none other than the Absolute Supreme. He sees himself as an exact prototype of his Master's divine consciousness, and he looks upon the Master as his own higher reality. So when he follows the Master, he is not surrendering his freedom to somebody else. Only he is exercising his freedom in a different way; he is exercising his freedom to follow his own higher reality.

In the spiritual life, it is always God for God's sake right from the beginning. If this message the seeker can embody, reveal and manifest in his life at every moment, then he will be a supreme and perfect instrument of his Beloved Supreme. There shall come a time when Mother Earth will be inundated with seeker-disciples who will be carrying the banner of unconditional surrender to God which is nothing other than conscious, constant, inseparable and unconditional divine oneness with their own higher reality and their Master who represents this higher reality.

Published in The Vision-Sky of California.

Be the divine eye of a mystic.
You will grow into God's Heart-Music.